Saturday, February 4, 2017

CHAPTER X, THE SUN SETS IN THE WEST

CHAPTER
X, The Sun Sets in the West

I still have a great deal of work to do -- put the photos in the right place, collect one by one, all the citations, get better maps than those home made ones I made . . . and God only knows what else. If anyone can help me, contact me at vhawkins1952@msn.com. Also as a word file, the fonts are all the same, columns are correctly placed, et cetera. But when I copy and paste it here to this blog -- that all changes! If I made a glaring mistake and don't see it, let me know. If you want to yell at me, do so. Nothing's gonna convince me the "Melungeons" are "Portuguese Adventurers" -- that's not happening. But just about everything else is possible. Melungeons are descendants from a band of the "Catawba." We should be proud of THAT, not some imaginary people dreamed up by Dorothy on her way to Oz. Last time I published a book it cost me $4,000 and I've only seen about $250-$300 back in royalties -in 3 or 4 years -- I'm not doing that again. I got robbed. I might just let it sit here unless anyone has some advise for me. I'm fine with it either way. I know someone is reading these things as I have over 4,500 "hits" (Feb 2017). If you want to share anything, feel free to do so. Eventually I'll go over each of these segments, one by one, and properly cite it. Melungeons have the same right to shoot for state recognition as others in the Carolina's or Virginia. I don't know if Tennessee has a state recognition procedure or not -- don't think it does. Melungeons were originally discovered in Scott or Wise County, Virginia -- perhaps they could go for state recognition in one of those counties. If you are looking for the citations give me some time. I am working on this chapter first because I want to ask both the Oklahoma and Arkansas Historical Societies some questions about the "Catawba Indian Association". Immigration
to Arkansas of the “Lungens”

The first occasion where the term "Melungeon" occurs that anyone has discovered at this point is below. It was written after the fact. So in reality the term "Melungeon" had already been used by the time the author uses it in this case, but she speaks of a time where the term "Lungen" was used. (1) For this reason, I am mentioning it first. Ialso mention as my family emigrated to Arkansas at an early date. (2) (3) A second time the word is found is in 1813 (I forget the exact year) in the minutes of Stoney Creek Primitive Baptist Church. (4) My family also attended that church, and out names are mentioned quite a lot in those church minutes.

p.
4.In
this chapter, the author lists several Indian tribes that at one time
lived in Baxter County, and lists several that are not tribes at all.
Others NEVER lived in Baxter County, or if they did it was long
before contact with Europeans. Some tribes that were there are Osage,
Delaware, Shawnee, Kickapoo, and Cherokee, the last four arriving
early in the 19th century. And she does list them.p.
5.She
mentions that while Arkansas was still claimed by Spain, the Spanish
encouraged the displaced American Tribes to settle on their lands in
Missouri and Arkansas. She speaks of the Cherokees living along the
White River. Now these displaced tribes settled on what the Osages
had considered their hunting grounds, and so warfare erupted between
them and the emigrant tribes. After a few years this became American
soil. She speaks of a Major Jacob Wolfe who in 1810 established a
Trading Post and Indian Agency in Baxter County, saying he is called the
father of Baxter County.

p.
6.Now
we come to the pages that mention the “Lungeons”. She says “
. . . another Jacob came up White River in search of fortune and
adventure. She calls him a son of Old Erin (Ireland), lately of McMinnville,
Tennessee. He and a man named McDonald, four slaves, and four other
men poled a flat boat up White River until they found a spot to their
liking. The exact spot of their first trading post, which has been
lost. Then
the author states “in
the unpublished manuscript of my late father, Herbert A. Messick, he
writes this concerning his great grandfather Herbert A. Mooney . . .” So
we now know the origin of this source. A man was telling family
stories, and they were passed down from earlier generations.

In
the next paragraph she continues; “By
the fall they had constructed one log building, for the store and two
cabins for living quarters. The four men who had come with Mooney
were men of Mystery, referred to by old timers who knew of them as
“Lungeons”. They were neither Negro nor Indian and in later years
Jacob Mooney was ostracized for living with these “foreigners.”

I
so wish the author had given her father’s exact words from his
unpublished manuscript. One can easily twist the meaning by changing
a word or two, something the person paraphrased that can be taken in
a different light than intended. She places the word “foreigner”
in parenthesis. She assumes them of Mediterranean heritage,
saying; “Could
these men have been Melungeons – the mysterious people of the hills
of Tennessee who have recently been identified as being
Mediterranean’s possibly of Jewish lineage, and who lived in
America prior to Columbus’s discovery of the “New World”? Of
course to suggest they came to American before Columbus is now
considered silly, but once upon a time wild theories were often
considered possible. Today thank God, we know better. I hope to contribute to making the notion that they are of Mediterranean origin also as being "silly".

She
continues with Mooney and McDonald (one of the items they took with
them to Arkansas was a Whiskey still – moonshine is also indigenous
to Arkansas) creating their own whiskey from local
ingredients. "Whisky" suggests to me of a Scottish ancestry, not Mediterranean. They soon returned to Tennessee. Both men later joined
Ol’ Hickory (Andrew Jackson) during the War of 1812, serving near
New Orleans. She says that after nine years, Mooney returned to
Arkansas with a wife and four children. I happen to recall in a Goodspeed's Biography of my g-g-g-grandpa Richey it saying when the Battle of New Orleans was fought, my g-g-g-grandpa Richey was at Mobile Bay. That's close to New Orleans. He returned to Arkansas as well, but a couple of decades later.

At
the bottom of page 4, she speaks of Mooney’s return to a place now
called “Mooney’s Landing”. She mentions going up White River to
a place called “Bates Town”. That’s got to be Batesville, in
Independence County. In the record of my William Wayland, it mentions
him being an overseer to a road in 1819 going to White River at
Batesville. (5) The daughter of William Wayland was later to marry the son of John Richey, to become one set of my g-g-grandparents.

Friday,
November 26, 1819, William
Wayland is
appointed overseer of the second road of said township . . . [note:
it is talking about Strawberry River Township -- about 20 miles from
Batesville. Batesville is on the banks of the White River] . . .

Tuesday,
January 15th, 1822 -- P 13, Samuel Crow is appointed overseer of the
road leading from Donaldsvile
to White River[note:
there is no Donaldsville in that area -- must have been a short lived
community] .
. . in place of William
Wayland
. . .

Since
the events of this chapter of that book occurred in 1810, and it says
he was gone 9 years, it seems to be saying he returned to Batesville
about 1819 as well. So my William Wayland and this Jacob Mooney might
well have bumped into one another near White River, near Batesville,
but who can say?

p.
7.Things
get even more interesting. She says“
.
. . Wolfe had performed several weddings for Mooney’s men and
Quapaw Indian maidens.” Well,
four of Mooney’s men were “Lungeons”. Had these “Lungeon”
men married into the Quapaw Tribe? The Quapaw are a small indigenous
Arkansas tribe north of the Caddo, west of the Chickasaw (when the Chickasaw were in Mississippi), and south
of the Osage. They now reside in Northeastern Oklahoma.

Here
is the second reference she makes to the “Lungeons”. She says
“Mooney
continued to commute between his wife in Tennessee and his trading
post in Arkansas until his death in 1832. By
the time he moved to Arkansas for good, his former slaves and the
“Lungeon” men had died and most of their families had moved west
with the other Indians..
. .later,
Jacob Mooney had lived near the Whiteville Church, and is buried
there. When the cemetery was fenced, Mooney’s grave and
the graves of the mixed bloodswho
lived with him were left outside.”

Interesting
it says the families of the Lungen men moved
west with the other Indians. Are
the "Lungens" the mixed bloods whose graves were left
outside the fenced in cemetery? It sounds as if these Lungeon men had
married those Quapaw women, and their descendants moved west with
them. It might be interesting to research Quapaw genealogy. As I
often discover however, about 90 percent of my research is NOT
imediately productive, so I won't get my hopes up . . . But remember the Quaw were NOT the only tribes in Missouri and Northern Arkansas. So were the Delaware, Miama, Shawnee, and others.

I
found an interesting document online. It is on the page below. I have
transcribed it below as well. I included the above stories because these Melungeon peoples were American Indians, who were of mixed race heritage, the Indian component being the Saponi Band of the Catawba. This article is about what happened to the Catawba wgho moved to Indian Territory/Oklahoma and Arkansas. The next story is similar.

The
Story of Hosea Morgan

There
was a Hosea Morgan in 1834 from Arkansas, who said he was Catawba,
and he wanted to live in the Cherokee Nation, West, in Oklahoma. He was
given a flat denial – NO!They said he looked Spanish but he said he
was Catawba Indian. (6) Remember most of the bands associated historically with the Catawba had been largely assimilated by the time of the French and Indian War 1756-1763 or the Revolution a decade and a half later. There are records of Catawba serving in both conflicts. They were becoming more mixed blood each generation. Unless they wanted to marry their cousins (and there were taboos against that) they married either local Whites or Blacks. We are talking about a few hundred survivors scattered over half a dozen locations from Virginia to South Carolina, in the beginning. After several generations, their numbers grew larger as their blood quantum grew smaller.

Image
2.

Aquohee
Dist Apr. 3. 1834,

To the Gentlemen of the Delegation. Gentlemen.

I
take the liberty to inform you that Hosea Morgan who kept my mill has
had the field and houses assessed to him as an emigrant to
the Arkansas. And Major Curry Gave the good will of it to a White
man named Roland Terry.

I
waited on Major Curry and stated the case to him and I had many
witnesses Present to prove my right to the place and that the man who
had the place assessed was no Citizen of the Nation nor had any right
of claim whatever to enroll as a Cherokee.

The
Old man Is supposed to be a Spaniard but calls himself a Catawba
Indian. His wife is said to be Negro.

John Smith his X
mark

Test

E Jones

We
the undersigned certify that a man named Hosea Morgan Having the
appearance of a Spaniard but representing himself to be a Catawba
Indian having spent many years among the Spaniards and having with him
a Negro family, came into this District six or seven years ago or
there abouts.

On
his first arrival he applied to the Council for permission to reside
in the Nation as a Citizen but was refused About two years ago Mr.
Smith obtained a permit for him to attend myhismill.
But he has never made any pretentions to have any right or title to
land or Citizenship in the Nation till he was received as an emigrant
to the Arkansas.

Now
we respectfully but earnestly protest against, persons having no
Cherokee blood and possessing no sort of title in our country being
allowed to alienate portions of the land in this way which we
conceive to beutterly
unlawful for our own acknowledged citizens to do.

Signed
on behalf of a full meeting of the Citizens of the
Dist.

Test. Situagihis
X mark Sweetwater his X mark Peter his X mark (6)So Mr. Morgan was denied the right to live amongst the Cherokee West.

Catawba
Come to Oklahoma –

Broken
Treaties, Broken Promises

The movements of these Catawban bands have accurately been mapped by Dr. Carson. (7) While Catawban bands that once connected intimitely with the Catawba Nation are wondering
around in Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee to later become known as "Melungeons", what are the main band of Catawba up to? Lets find out James Kegg was a Catawba chief. He once wrote a
document to Congress, and parts of it are recorded below;

Some
Catawba History as Told By James Kegg

Another
interval of 15 years or more lapsed (8) before the subject was again
presented to the department. On
the 21st of November, 1887, James Kegg, of Whittier North
Carolina, in addressing the Secretary of the interior (No. 31383),
made the following statement, viz.:

Many
years ago his people, the Catawba Indians, leased the land they owned
in South Carolina and became a wondering tribe, without homes for
their wives and children. They made application he states, to the
Cherokees of North Carolina, for homes upon their land and made over
to them all their leased lands in South Carolina in consideration of
their adoption into their tribe; that about 500 were so adopted and
have been identified as such; that some 300 of them were removed west
under the Cherokee Treaty of New Echota, made December 29th,
1835, leaving a few living among the Cherokees as Cherokee citizens
and a small portion remaining in South Carolina “upon a section of
land which they owned and was not leased out for a term of years,
upon which they now reside.” Those Catawba's remaining in South
Carolina, Mr. Kegg states, had no interest whatever in the lands
which were leased out by those who became Chrokees by adoption, and
he wished to ascertain whether or not the United States gave its
concent to the Catawba's to lease out their lands to the State of
South Carolina or to her citizens, and if so, upon what terms and the
length of term said leases ran.

Without
indorsing the statements herein made by Mr. Kegg. He was informed on
the 7th of April, 1888, that the Catawba Indians held
their lands in South Carolina under agreements or arraingements made
with that state over which the Federal Government had no control or
jurisdiction. He was then cited to the laws of South Carolina, a set
forth I Brevard's Digest, vol 1., titled “Indians”, and to the
volume in colonial law herein cited, and for further information
respecting the history and previous status of the lands and leases he
was referring to the Secretary of State of the State of South
Carolina.

There
have been frequent communications from and concerning the Catawba
Indians since 1888, but none involving of furnishing any new facts of
information concerning the history or status of these Indians or
their lands.

So
while the Saponi were having trouble with being a small band
separated from any relatives for a generation or two, now, the
Catawba proper were not getting anywhere in their attempt to remove
to the west, or to have their lands in the east restored, either. As
Mr. Kegg says, they became a wondering tribe. (9) When Kegg speaks of the people becoming a wondering tribe, he might have been speaking of those that became the Melungeons to historians as well as the main band.

Treaty
with South Carolina

In the 1830s the tribes in the American Southeast had all been removed west of the Mississippi except one -- The Catawba and the bands associated with them. Some of the remaining Catawba wanted to be removed to the west as well, and so they signed a treaty with the State of South Carolina. called "The Treaty of Nation's Ford" in 1840 (10). South Carolina wanted to get rid of It's Indians, too, but the rest of the country had just forgotten about them. It was a simple treaty. The Catawba were to leave their lands in South Carolina, North Carolina was to provide them with new lands, and once they removed South Carolina would give them $5,000 to help them resettle. The problem with this treaty is that nobody told North Carolina they were committing to giving the few Indians any land, and they refused to do it. They tried to move in with the Eastern Cherokee, but there was still ancient friction between the two, and the move failed. So Catawba families were left wondering around not knowing what to do. Many went back to their old homes in York County, South Carolina. There was another problem. Many families had earlier been considered Catawba, but were now considered "assimilated" Indians. Many of these are now state recognized in Virginia and the Carolinas. Many smaller bands had stopped functioning as Indian tribes and bands after the Tuscarora and Yamassee Wars 1711-1717. They were still mentioned as late as the French and Indian War and some even up to the the Revolutionary War.

The
Catawba in York County, South Carolina had also just petitioned the
Cherokee, as well as the Chickasaw, for permission to settle amongst
them, and were declined by both. A few Catawba were adopted by the
Creek, and Choctaw. It was said
some Catawba moved to the Chickasaw Nation. I can't help but remember
that my family moved to live in the Chickasaw Nation.

From
a historic perspective, the Allotment Act had just been passed by
Congress whereby all the Indian lands in Oklahoma were to be divided
up into individual family allotments, with the excess sold off. The
more land that was sold off, the more money the individual tribes
would obtain from that sale. On the Cherokees behalf, they
knew who was Cherokee and who wasn’t. It was a small tight knit
community, as were all tribes. When someone unknown says they
are Cherokee, and no one in the community has ever heard of them, red
flags are thrown up. So when these families who had never, as far as
anyone’s recollection, lived in the Cherokee Nation, the Cherokee
didn’t believe them. They thought these people just wanted free
Indian lands. Maybe a trip to Oklahoma and a visit with local tribal
leaders would have helped the situation, I don’t know. It didn’t
help the Western Catawba organization.

Map
27.Catawba Arrive at Skullyville/Ft. Smith

Treaties

The
1763 Treaty of Augusta left the Catawba with 144,000 acres of land.
The state of South Carolina wanted it.

But what is this "1848 Treaty" that is mentioned? Nation's Ford Treaty was dated 1840, NOT 1848 (11). Remember
the removals of the other southeastern tribes that had taken place
throughout the 1830s, culminating in the Cherokee removal throughout
the winter of 1838-1839 that became known as the “Trail Where they
Cried”, or the “Trail of Tears.” South Carolina decided they
just didn't want any Indians left in their state and decided to give
them to North Carolina. No one bothered to tell the North
Carolinians, and they refused to take them in. This treaty is known
as “The Treaty of Nation's Ford. I found it online and transcribed
it below –

The
Treaty of Nation's Ford

A treaty entered into at the Nation's Ford Catawba between the
chiefs and headmen of the Catawba Indians of the one part and the
commissioners appointed by the legislature of South Carolina and
acting under the commissioners from his excellency Patrick Noble,
Esq., Governor and Commander in Chief of the State of South Carolina
of the other part.

Article First – The chiefs and headmen of the Catawba
Indians for themselves and the Nation. Hereby agree to ??? sell and
convey to the state of South Carolina all their right title and
interest to their boundary of land lying on both sides of the Catawba
River and situate in the Districts of York and Lancaster and which
are represented in a plat of survey made by Samuel Wiley, and dated
the twenty-second day of February. One thousand seven hundred and
sixty-four, and now on file in the office of the secretary of state.

Articles Second – The commissioners on their part engage
in behalf of the state to furnish the Catawba Indians with a tract of
land of the value of five thoudans dollars, three hundred acres of
which must be good, arable lands which must be purchased for their
use in Haywood County, North Carolina, or in some other mountainous
thinly populated region where the said Indians may desire.

Article
Third
– The commissioners further engage that the State shall pay the
said Catawba Indians two thousand dollars annually for the term of
ten years. The first payment to which is to be paid on their removal
and on the first of January each and every year thereafter until the
whole is paid.

Please
note they were selling 144,000 acres and would be returned an
un-mentioned number of acres, three hundred acres of which had to be
good land. Their new lands were to be “in the mountains”.

Haywood
County is the location of the Cherokee in Western North Carolina. The
South Carolinians were expecting the Catawba abnd their anceient
enemy, the Cherokee, to live together in North Carolina. The fact
that the North Carolinians were not informed that the South
Carolinians were dumping the Catwba on their doorstep, didn't help
things either. Also this was NOT a federal treaty, but rather a
treaty between the state of South Carolina and the Catawba. Some
Catawba tried to live amongst the Cherokee, but most quickly left.
They lost their lands in South Carolina, but the land they were
promised never materialized. They were left wondering about, looking
for a place to stay. This state of affairs could not continue for
ever.

The
Gentry's and Lerblanche Families.

Here
is a story of an extended Catawba Family that also moved to Indian
Territory, about 1848, which is the same time as those other families
mentioned above.

I
need to explain a little bit. There is a file at Oklahoma Historic
Society called “Indian Pioneer Papers. In the 1930s there was a
project to try and have old-timers who remembered, what Indian
territory was like before statehood, in the days before there was any
law. My great Uncle, Oscar taylor Richey, wrote about our family. Now
Oscar's mother's maiden name was Brown, and his maternal grandma was
a Guess/Gist. Another family, children of James Harvey Gist, are
related to us. Their descendants also wrote about their family, as
they too, came to Indian Territory. Our Guess/Gist relatives (proven
through DNA testing) mention some Gentry's living in Checotah, which
is located near the Creek/Cherokee border. As we'll find out, these
Genrty's were mixed-blood Catawba. (12)

As
it turns out, a Lerblanche family also wrote about their family.
Willie Lerblanche told a part of their story. The person who
interviewed her said she was from Checotah, Oklahoma. Here are a few
words she chose to tell;

“My
grandfather was Elijah Hermigine Lerblanche. He was born in March,
1836, son of a Louisiana Frenchman and Vicay Genrty, who was daughter
of Ellijay Gentry, a White man married to a full blood Catawba
Indian. He came from Alabama to the Creek Nation at the age of 12.”
Now Alabama was the home of many Creek Indians already, so she means
their family moved from Alabama to Oklahoma (then called Indian
Territory) about 1848, several years after the Trail of Tears. So
Vicay's mother was full blood, making her half. This means Elijah, b.
1836, was 1/4th Catawba. Apparently the whole
Gentry/Lerblanche clan moved with in with the Creek Nation.

Remember
my relatives, surnamed “Gist/Guess? Here is a small part of that
story. “One day I was in Checotah when a very funny incident
occueerd. An Indian man named Gentry had a store there . . .” Is is
funny, sort of, kinda mean, too. If you want to hear the rest of it
go to the link about to hear the rest of it. I can get carried waay
telling stories and forget the point I was trying to make. These are
Gentry's from Checotah. Records put some Catawba in Checotah (I'll
get to that in a minute), as well as these Lerblanche's and Genrty's.
And one branch of my family knew them.

Carlson
then reports about some movement for these families to remove to
Indian Territory/Oklahoma. Such stories are of great interest to me,
as this is where my family relocated to.

Leaving
Carolina

Remember someone mentioned an 1848 treaty. Well, here it is. In
1848 some of the Catawba tried to come to Indian Territory per the
government supplying money for that purpose at that time. Brown (13) writes in “The Catawba Indians”, p. 323 “On
July 29, 1848 the 73rd
Congressapprppriated
$5,000 to defray the expense of the move [to Indian Territory].”
Chief
James Kegg wrote a letter to President James Polk at that time and
said there were 42 Catawba families who wanted to use that
appropriation to move west. He said (p 324) “We
humblybeg
his Excellency the President . . .to remove us west of the
Miss[issippi] under the act ofthe
late Congress.” .
Still on page 324, Brown writes, “Whether
the President ever saw theletter
is problematical.” In
the next paragraph Brown writes that the Cheorkee were asked if the
Catawba could live amongst them and it says: “The
answer from John Ross and theCherokee
counsel was a firm NO. But before the reply was received, the Catawba
themselvesexpressed
a preference for living among the Western Chickasaws . . . [who] at
one time hadinvited
the Catawba to settle amongst them. Government representatives
promptly opened upnegotiations
with the Chickasaws among whom – the agent was told, some of the
Catawba’sdescendants
were already settled.” It
continues to say: “The
principal men of the tribeassured
the agent that the Catawba would be welcome, but only the council had
the right toinvite
them, officially. But when a Chickasaw Counsel meeting was held in
February of 1849,the
Catawba proposal was voted down. This change of sentiment was
attributed to thesudden
death of old Chief Albertson ”,
a
strong advocate of the Catawba’s.” So
we have a substantial number of Catawba Indians with no land base and
no home. I suspect many on the rejected rolls are in reality, Catawba
mixed-bloods. Were mine Catawba rather than Cherokee? Evidence
suggests we are both. Blumer continues to say neither Congress nor the Catawba were in a hurry to be removed. By the late 1850s they were just getting all the paperwork for removal to take place, but hte Civil War started up, and all eyes were focused elsewhere. Their eyes ere refocused on Indian Territory only when in the 1890s or so Congress was talking about the Allotment Act, which would take away "excess" Indian lands. Mixed blood Catawban Indian peoples in the East, from the Atlantic to the Appanachians and beyond started wondering why they were never given any land in Oklahoma, lands they's been promised.

In “Catawba Nation, Treasures in History,” by Thomas J. Blumer,
(pp 52-53) he writes: “The
Treaty of Nations Ford is a simple document. Article One conveyed the
144,000acre
reservation to the state of South Carolina. This article was of
course, carried out withthe
full acquiescence ofthe Catawba. Article Two provided the Catawba
with a new tract ofland
far removed from White settlements. Article Two, caught in a
political vacuum between North and South Carolina, was never
fulfilled. Article Three regarded payment for the144,000
acre reservation. South Carolina never made proper payment and the
debt remainsunsettled.”

He
also talks of many Catawba who left the reservation, some to settle
with the Eastern Cherokee, some just left for points unknown. No one
knows how many Catawba left, or how many of these people were. People
had been leaving the Catawba Reservation,assimilating, for many
years, for generations in fact.

Also recall that by
this time ALL members of ALL the bands began to call themselves
“Catawba” rather that Esaw, or Wateree, or Sugaree, or the names
of the other bands. They had for the most part, died out, are could
no longer defend themselves. Slavery (until 1717), disease (1728, 1737, 1759, and 1780-ish), warfare (Tuscarora and Yamassee Wars 1711-1717) and
assimilation (post 1720) had all done their damage, and left pitifully small
remnants scattered here and there, to be hardly remembered at all.

The
“Western Catawba Association” of the 1880s-1890s

Several
years back, I exchanged several emails with Dr. Thomas Blumer , who
was a foremost expert on the Catawba. It is my understanding that he
has since passed on. I emailed him family photos and stories. He
became interested in the fact that my family was Indian but not
federally recognized and that we had at one time lived near both Fort
Smith, Arkansas, and Leflore County, Oklahoma. This is where the
Catawba who came to Oklahoma we said to have gone. The fact that we
were “Brown’s” also got his attention, as Brown is one of the known Catawba surnames. He told me of an effort to form a
“Western Catawba Association” in Fort Smith, Arkansas in the
1890s. However by the 1890s we had left and were living in the
Chickasaw Nation, Still, he peaked my curiosity. I wondered, was my
family part-Catawba, then? I looked for more information. Chapman
Milling said in “Red Carolinians” (15):By
the Indian appropriation act of 1848, $5,000 was set aside to
completely removethe
Catawba to the Indian country west of the Mississippi. In November of
1848 the heads offorty-two
families sent a petition to the Indian Office requesting to be
allowed to be removedto
the Chickasaw Nation. Nothing materialized because of this request,
however. Eventuallya
few families went to live in the Choctaw Nation and in 1855 several
Catawba were adoptedinto the Choctaw Nation.
Muriel Hazel Wright (16) wrote “A Guide to the Indian Tribes of
Oklahoma” in 1951. In that book, she chronicled a history of all
the sixty-nine tribes that either came to Oklahoma, or are indigenous
to the state. She was Choctaw herself (her father was a former
Principle Chief). She said of the Catawba — another
group left the nation during the removal period. In 1897 they formed
theWestern
Catawba Association at Fort Smith, Arkansas. She
speaks of some who received Choctaw citizenship in 1853. Ms. Wright
said of the Catawba who migrated to Arkansas and Oklahoma – The
descendants of some of the Catawba who settled in the Choctaw Nation
are nowabsorbed
into the Indian population of Haskell and Le Flore Counties. The
descendants ofsome
of those who settled in the Creek and Cherokee Nations have been
reported livingsoutheast
of Checotah in McIntosh County. The main portion of the tribe live in
the Easternpart
of York County, South Carolina.There
are few Catawba in Oklahoma, and those are counted in the general
Indianpopulation
of the state. They were last enumerated as a separate tribe in this
region in 1896,and
their total population in the Indian Territory being given as 132.
The largest portion, or78
lived in the Choctaw Nation, most of them in the region between the
present cities of Stigler
and Spiro. Seventeen of them gave Checotah [A
related Gist family wrote of the Gentry family, who were said to have
been Catawba],
Creek Nation, as their post office, and 15 lived around Texanna,
[Vance’s
note: Texanna is also where Captain Dutch settled, as did some of
Sequoyah’s family] in
theSouthwestern
part of the Cherokee Nation, now included in McIntosh County. In the
sameyear
(1896) there were 145 Catawba living in Arkansas, most of them in and
aroundGreenwood
and Barber.

She
adds – In
October 1848, William Morrison, chief of a band of Catawba (?42
persons or heads of households?) living atQuallahtown,,
Haywood County, North Carolina, addressed a letter to the
Commissioner ofIndian
Affairs asking for the appointment of a superintendent to remove his
people to theIndian Territory . . . These people expressed their preference for
settlement among theChickasaw,
but the Chickasaw council took no action on the subject.[Vance’s
note: I don't now if this was the head of 42 families or individual Catawba — different sources imply different things. Also the Chickasaw as we have seen, did take action,
and rejected the Catawba proposal in February 1848.]In
“Red Carolinians” Chapman J. Milling wrote the following – "The
Catawba Indian Association of Fort Smith, Arkansas," an
organizationhaving
a membership of 257 persons, the alleged descendants of Catawba who
went Westunder
the act of 1848. The petitioners were distributed as follows in
Arkansas and IndianTerritory:
Arkansas—Greenwood, 44, Barber, 42, Crow, 13, Oak Bower, 6, Fort
Smith, 17;Indian
Territory and Oklahoma - Checotah, 17, Jackson, 15, Star, 34,
Panther, 22, OakLodge,
10, Redland, 4, Ramville, 2, Indianola, 3, Center, 4, Ward, 3, Sacred
Heart, 1,Steigler,
2.It
will be seen that most of those in the Indian Territory were living
in the Creek andChoctaw
Nations. The petition sets forth that these Catawba families had
removed west, someas
late as 1854, "journeying at their own expense to the country
west of the MississippiRiver,
hoping and expecting to be there furnished with new homes..."
Having never beenassigned
lands, they were "left stranded in that Territory and the
neighboring states." Theytherefore
prayed for relief. The government took the position that the
petitioners were whitemen
with a trace of Indian blood, and therefore not entitled to relief.
The memorial indicates,however,
that descendants of Catawba Indians existed in considerable numbers
in theSouthwest
only 44 years ago. Although
no Indians are today recorded as Catawba in thestate
of Oklahoma, there is little reasonable doubt that an appreciable
amount of Catawbablood
persists in the eastern section of that commonwealth.

Milling
also says in Red Carolinians “Having
traced several distinct migrations toNorth
Carolina, Virginia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Utah, Colorado, we have thus
seen that theCatawba
Tribe is not so nearly extinct as was supposed and has been
frequently asserted. Itis
true however that the only band having any semblance of tribal status
is the remnant inSouth
Carolina . . .” I
cannot help but think that had Congress acted, there might be a
Catawba Tribe of Oklahoma, too. However, since these families have
all scattered today, that is no longer possible.

I
suspect that, like the Sizemore’s, many of these families have
forgotten their tribal origins, and think their ancestors were
Cherokee. I could not help but recall what my great Uncle had written
about our family living in Sequoyah or Leflore County. That is where
many of these Catawba had been. Also they sought permission to live
in the Chickasaw Nation. My family also lived there.

Some
Catawba try to move West in the 1840s-1850s (4 CSD #144)

If you recall a few pages back, I found some
Lerblanche and Gentry family members who moved into the Creek Nation.
It was recorded that he grandpa moved in the the Creek Nation when he
was about 12 years old. It said he was born in 1836 making it 1848
when they left their old home for a new one they hoped to receive.
They also said they were Catawba. They settled in/around Checotah in
the Creek Nation. If you will look above a couple of paragraphs you
will see there were about seventeen KNOWN Catawba living in
Checotah. Well this is the same year another bunch left for the Indian
Nations. Below is a record of more Catawba who moved into the
Territory of the Indian Nations.

“Catawba Indians – For the removal of the
Catawba Tribe of Indians now in the limits of the State of North
Carolina to the Indian Country west of the Mississippi, with the
consent of said tribe, under the direction of the President of the
united States, a sum not exceeding $5,000: provided no portion of
this sum shall be expended for the purpose of removing said Indians
until the President shall first obtain a home for them. Amongst some
of the tribes west of the Mississippi River, with their concent, and
without any charge upon the government.”

In transmitting said memorial Mr. Mullay speaks of
him, after several personal interviews held with said chiefs, as an
intelligent, respectable Catawba, and of the preference of his people
to a home with the Chickasaw Indians West, who, he stated, had at
one time given the Catawba an invitation to esttle among them.

In this annual report of this office for the year
1849 (Doc. 5, p. 949), it is stated that –

“The department has not yet succeeded in finding
a suitable home west of the Mississippi for the Catawba Indians
residing in North Carolina. They prefer a residence among the
Chickasaws, to whom application was made to receive them,, but to
which there has been no final answer. Proper efforts will be made
carry out, next season, if practiceable, the Law of July 29th,
1848, providing for their removal.”

Agent A.M. M. Upshaw was instructed, Nov. 6, 1848
(Chickasaw Letter Book C., p. 32), to ascertain whether or not the
Chickasaw Nation would receive the Catawba on the terms prescribed
by the law.

In said instructoins it was intimidated that the
Department knew very little about the Catawbas, nothing of their
origins, or of their language and customs, , or how they got from
their home in South Carolina to Haywood County, in North Carolina.
Hey were believed however, to be a quiet and well disposed people,
numbering in all about 80 souls. From their location and supposed
former alliances with the Cheorkees, the impresson was established
that they would prefer a residence with the Cherokees, and steps were
taken to ascertain whether or not they would receive the Catawbas on
the terms prescribed. Information was subsequently obtained that they
would probably object to going to the Cherokees, and expressed a
preference to take homes with the Chickasaws. Agent Upshaw responded,
on the 8th of January, 1849, that the Chickasaws would
probably receive the Catawbas, but that their council must first act
on the subject. (Chickasaw U. 55) It does not appear however, that
the Chickasaw Council ever took action on the case.

Sec. 11. Be it enacted by the general council of
the Choctaw Nation assembled, that Willim Morrison, Thomas Morrison,
Sarah Jane Morrison, Molly Redhead, Betsey Heart, Rebeccah Heart,
Phillip Keggo, and the infant child of Phillip Keggo, Rosey Ayres,
Betsey Ayers, Julian Ayres, Mary Ayres, Sophonia Ayres, and Sally
Ayres be,and they are hereby declaresd, naturalized citizens of the
Choctaw Nation, invested with all the rights, priveliges, and
immunities of Naturalized citizens of the same.” .

Although there is nothing in the act to show the
nationality of these persons, you will see by a comparison of the
names attached to the aforementioned memorial of the Catawbas, that
they are the same persons. This opinion is coorborated by a
subsequent Act of said council, approved November 12, 1856 (Choctaw
Laws, 1869, p. 153) entitled, “An Act Giving Greater priveleges to
the Catawbas hereby naturalized).”

Sec. 18. Be it enacted by the General Counsil of
the Choctaw Nation Assembled, that the Catawbas who were made
citizens of this nation by a special act of Session XX, section 11, of
1853, between the Choctaws and the government of the United States.”

The Hon. James L. Orr, of Anderson, S. C., and
Representatives in Congress, having called the attention of this
office to the fact that a remnant of the Catawba Tribe of Indians
numbering about 70 persons residing within his state, expressed a
desire to become affiliated with the Choctaw people; that they
possessed a small reservation in South Carolina that they were
willing to sell, and that the proceeds in connection with a
contemplated appropriation for their benefit of the legislature of
the state, would supply them with a fund amounting, as was presumed,
, to about $5,000 suffecient, if properly applied,, to enable them to
make the improvements necessary to a successful commencement of
cultivating the soil, and of other pursuits incident to civilized
life. This office instructed C. W. Dean, Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, in a letter addressed to him at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, dated
January 6, 1857 to direct agent D. H. Cooper to lay the subject
before the Choctaw nation in council assembled or other wise, as he
might deem most judicious, inviting attention to the generosity and
hospitality of the Choctaws manifested in the reception and kind
treatment of a small party of their fellow Catawbas, then living
among the Choctaws which had inspired them with confidence in that
people, and with an anxious desire the same privileges with their
brethren who had gone before them in the same enterprise. Please know n 1822 it was said there were 450 Catawba and by about 1900 there were said t be about 100. Many just left

He was advised that in the Indians appropriations
act approved July 31st 1854, (10 stat. 1, p. 316), the
following item appears, viz. –

“For the reappropriation for expences of the
removal of the Catawba Indians to the west of the Mississippi River,
and of settling, and subsisting them one year in their new homes,
provided that a home shall first be obtained for them, and that they
shall be removed only with their own cencent to receive this small
band of Catawbas, and , and would permit them to reside within the
limits of their territory.

Superintendent Dean reported on this matter March
20, 1857, as follows:

“It is the opinion of Agent Cooper, in which
opiniion I concur, that nothing can be effected as to the procurement
of homes for these Indians among the Choctaws until the next session
of the general counsil of the nation, and I believe it does not again
convene until next Autumn.”

“I was in hope, indeed, from inquiry, was almost
satisfied – that the act of the Choctaw Counsil passed at the
Choctaw Counsil passed at the session of 1853, conferring the
privelege of citizenship upon certain Catawba Indians that emigrated
and were permitted to settle in the Choctaw Country in that year, was
made general and comprehensive in its terms, so as to include all the
Catawba Indians that might be disposed to cast their lot with them,
as there seemed at the time to be an understanding that the greater
portion, if not all the residue of the tribe was desirous of
emigrating to the Choctaw Country.; but I have recently procured a
copy of the act of 1853 (a transcript of which is in file in the
Indian Bureau), and perceive it is limited and specific in its terms,
including only those that emigrated in that year.

I am further inclined in the belief that the
Choctaws were disappointed that the Catawba's that emigrated at the
time mentioned were unable to turn over to the treasury of the nation
a certain sum of money that it was supposed that they were to receive
from the United States for their removal and temporary subsistence,
but which amount, instead of being paid into the treasury of the
Choctaws, reverted instead to the surplus fund of the treasury of the
united States. As thee Catawba's were invested with the full
priveleges of the citizens of the Choctaw Nation and became equal
participants in the distribution of their annuities, etc., it seems
not unreasonable that any fund set apart for the use of these Catawba's
should have become a portion of the common stock for common good, and
such, I learn, was the general expectation of all parties when the
act of 1853 was passed.

Agent Cooper gives it as his opinion that on
assembling of the National Council of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, on
the payment of a reasonable sum thereof by the United States or by
the State of South Carolina.

Under these circumstances, and as from the tenor of
your letter of January 6, the exact provision that may be made for
the removal and settlement of the Catawbas of South Carolina appears
as yet to be indefinite. And unacertained. I beg permission to
suggest that the interim that must occur before further action can be
had with the tribes be occupied in adjusting definitely and with
precision what amount will be under control of the department so
secure the purposes indicated, so that a proposition determinant in
its character may be ready to be laid before the tribes whose
cooperation is asked in the premises.

“From Agent Cooper's letter to me on the subject,
I beg leave to offer the following extant, and to ask for it the
consideration of the department:

“I have but little doubt the remnant of the
Catawba Indians can be accomodated in the Choctaw and Chickasaw
Country, upon the payment by the United States or the State of South
Carolina, of a reeasonable consideration to the Choctaws and
Chickasaws, both ofwhich tribes have an interest direct in all sums
of money that might be realized from the use or sale of the country
embraced within their boundaries.

No
action appears to have been taken by the government or any of the
Indians on the question of their removal to the Choctaw or any other
Indian Country.

Catawba
in Georgia

[In] 1872 . . . Hon. J. C. Harper, of the House of Representatives
from Georgia, brought to the attention of this office the question of
the removal of certain Indians in North Carolina and Georgia.
Presuming they were Cherokee, this office requested him on the 13th
of June, 1872, to furnish a list of the names and ages of said
Indians. In reporting the names, Mr. Joseph McDowell , of Fairmount,
Georgia, under date of October 1872 (Misc. M., 229), stated that the
Indians referred to, and asking relief of the government, were
Catawba Indians, and 84 in number, viz:

Those italicized desired permission of the
president to settle in the Indian Territory, all of whom Mr. McDowell
states were good and loyal people, and that if any Indian deserved
assistance from the government these Indians did: that their
grandfathers onon both sides the government in the War for
Independence, and that their names were on the muster rolls in the
War Department.

William Guy, of Granville County, Georgia, and
Simon Jeffries, of Belleville Virginia, Catawba Indians, served five
years in the Army and were honorably discharged, and these 84 persons
were their descendants.

Recall
earlier that these men were listed as “Saponi” – yet their
family calls them “Catawba”. This shows the Saponi to be a band
of the “greater” Catawba. Also note that when the government
thought them to be Cherokee, it wanted a list of all their names.
Perhaps this is why there is no list of the names of the 257 Catawba
found in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and Arkansas. If you were
Cherokee, they were interested in finding you, but if you're
ancestors were Catawba, well – you don't qualify. Below are the
names of the 84 Catawba's in Georgia:

As these Indians were Catawba's and not Cherokees,
Mr. McDowell was informed Oct. 22, 1872, that they could not receive
any of the benefits arising from the Cherokee removal fund of 1848.

A
schedule of seventy persons very similar to the forgoiing list, each
containing many of the same names was forwarded to the office by Mr.
McDowell, Oct. 19, 1869 (Misc. M. 805), but for the same reasons, no
relief could be granted them at that time more than in 1872

Some
Melungeon Families Were Migrating to Oklahoma, too
Dr. Carlson's dissertation is over a thousand pages long. I have gone through it seeking references where some tried to obtain lands in Oklahoma. Remember these Saponi and Cheraw Indian bands had for a time lived in the Catawba territory, but they moved off em masse -- the Saponi to the North Carolina border with Virginia; Today they make up several state recognized tribes as well as the people often called the "Melungeons". The Cheraw settled further down the Pedee River where they became known as both the Cheraw and the Pedee Indians who settled even further down.. Eventually many of these people settled in Robison County, North Carolina, and their descendants are known as the Lumbee Indians, today.

Many members of these remnant groups came to Oklahoma only to realize the Catawba were NOT to be given any land, and many tried to apply as Cherokee, and they failed. Carlson wrote down a few of the names of some of these people who tried to apply as Cherokee, and Forest Hazel wrote down a few more names.

Carlson
says “.
. .In 1896, J. W. Perkins and John Baldwin again petitioned the
Federal Government as well as the Cherokee Nation for permission to
move as a body to Indian Territory, but the attempt failed.”

This
statement has my interest! The following thoughts are my ramblings
and were not discussed by Carlson. This is the same timeframe that
Bain and Williamson were attempting to get the “Western Catawba
Indian Tribe” federally recognized in Arkansas and Indian Territory
(Oklahoma) where 257 individuals petitioned the federal government.
Another record of this organization lists 4,000 members. I wonder if
these two groups knew of each other’s attempts in the 1890s, one
along the Oklahoma/Arkansas border and the other on the Southwest
Virginia/North Carolina border?

Remember,
these groups had to have the approval of the federal Government, as
well. Remember they wanted lands to settle on, too, and since they
had been living as Whites, the government decided they had already
assimilated, why run the risk they’d revert back? Again this is
just my guess. So the tribes didn’t want to share their lands with
descendants of the Catawba, Saponi and Saura, and the government
wanted ALL THE INDANS to assimilate, and gradually disappear, as
these Eastern Siouans were in the process of doing. So these attempts
were doomed to failure, from the start.

We
have made the difficult connections between Fort Christanna and the
first place the Melingeons are known to have lived – Southwestern
Virginia and Northeastern Tennessee. These people were NOT Portuguese
nor were they mixed Negro-White ONLY – there was an Indian
component that was the olny reason they traveled together. .

Carlson
begins chapter nine, p. 333 by saying; “In
the last half of the 1800s, small groups of families and individuals
of the Salyorsville Indians had been periodically moving out to the
Cherokee and Creek Nations in Indian Territory.” Since
this is what my family did – I am listening. He
continues; “Coincidently,
years later in an unrelated matter, many Salyersville Indian families
remaining back in Kentucky would get involved in a court claims issue
regarding all ‘Eastern Cherokee.’ In the process, they would
provide letters, testimonies, and interviews which reveal the size
and strength of their families as they addressed the government as a
group.” Apparently
the people of Magoffin County only heard about the interviews for
Eastern Cherokee descendants, now known as the Guion Miller Rolls,
until 1907, and the court of claims would make its decision in 1905.

Carlson
says, p. 334; For
nearly two decades prior to the Court of Claims decision, many people
from Magoffin County, both Indian and non-Indian had been
sporadically moving in small family groups out to ‘the Nations’
in ‘Indian Territory’. I
can add a little something to this. After the Civil War thousand of
ex-Confederate soldiers and officials moved to Indian Territory.
Parts of the Choctaw Nation even became known as ‘Little Dixie’
because of all these immigrants. Speaking of Louanna Cole, Carlson
says (pp. 334-335); “Most
of her children out to the Cherokee Nation right before and after the
Civil War.” Carlson
speaks of a grandson of Louanna who attended school in Vinita. I
mention this because there was a short article in the Vinita
Newspaper talking about an attempt to create ‘a Western Catawba
Tribe’ in the 1880s-1890s. Another member of this family moved to
Bedford, Oklahoma. Carlson says; “The
rest of Siss’s children (Siss was a daughter of Louanna living in
Oklahoma) in 1908 would report to the Special Commissioner of Indian
Affairs that while they knew the names of Siss’s half brothers and
sisters through Louanna (Louanna never left Magoffin County), they
did not know their present place of residence, or even if they were
still living. [896]

“Around
1880 a number of the Indians and mixed-bloods from Magoffin County .
. . would set their sights on removing to the Indian Territory. . .
most would go in large family groups. Carlson specifically mentions
three families, Daniel and Jahaza Cole, James Jackson Shephard, as
well as Shep and Mary Cole’s son, Lewis Cole.”

Carlson
also mentions the Howards. He says (p. 336); “Another
early connection between the people from the Magoffin County area and
Indian territory involved a member of the mixed-blood Howard family
who remained closely tied to the Salyorsville Indians who later moved
out there. This was James Jackson Shephard. . . . James left the
Kentucky mountains sometime between 1872 and 1880 and sat down in San
Bois in Indian Territory. [899]” Carlson
mentions several places this family lived over the next few decades,
including San Bois, Stigler, Broken Arrow, , and even parts of
western Arkansas. Did you notice what I noticed? Stigler was one of
several towns recorded as having Catawba Indian residents as were
recorded by the “Western Catawba Indian Association”. Two Catawba
were said to live there, but unfortunately their names were not
given, per a document published by the 54th
Congress, dated 13 Feb, 1897. Interestingly, Carlson says “James
would hunt deer and take the dressed mean to sell at places like Fort
Smith.” I must note my great grandparents also lived for a time in
the 1870s near Fort Smith, but just inside Indian territory, beside
Sequoyah and Leflore counties. I wonder if his family knew mine. Also
the “Western Catawba Indian Association” was based out of Fort
Smith. Some Howards also married into my Gist family.

Carlson
speaks of James Shepard finally settling down in his old age at at
Brushy Mountain near Muscogee in the Creek Nation, passing on in
1916. He adds; “by that point in time the Brushy Mountain area near
Muscogee had become the residence of a number of Saylersville Indian
families who had since emigrated west. He mentions several members of
the Cole and Perkins families had migrated to Indian Territory. He
mentions Lewis Cole living in Stroud. He says most of the families
that came to Indian Territory were members of the Cole, Perkins, and
Fletcher families (p. 338).

Carlson
says time and again he doesn’t know why these families came to
Oklahoma just before the turn of the century, about 1900, a little
before or later. I would suspect it had to do with land. Thousands,
millions in fact, came to Oklahoma about that time. Parts of Oklahoma
were just being opened up for non-Indian settlement from 1889 on. The
Western Tribes lost their lands first to land runs and in one case, a
lottery. All tribes lost their lands through the “Allotment Act”.
All the citizens of the Nations were first given 160 acres. The rest
ws either lost in land runs, land sales, and here was one lottery.
Moneys from these sales went to the tribes. So the more land they
sold, the more money they made. Oklahoma went from a territory of
probably, oh, I don’t know, maybe 100,000 persons in 1880 to a
state with a population of three million by 1910. We became a state
in 1907. People from all over the country came here to get the excess
Indian lands at a cheap price. And a good number of these people were
folks like my family, and like those from Salyersville, people who
had some Indian blood Initially they’d hoped to receive an
allotment of 160 acres. Discovering they were not eligible, they
remained to purchase the excess. Carlson cites some lady who said her
family lived in tents and dugouts. So did my family! My aunt wrote me
a letter saying her mother (grandma) had spoken of her parents (my
great grandparents) living in covered wagons and in half-dugouts. A
great uncle also mentioned these things.Forrest HazelForrest Hazel worked with some of the family groups in helping them to get recognized as "Indian" by several eastern states, specifically Virginia and the Carolinas'. He wrote the following about those Saponi who tried to sign up as Cherokee on the Guion-Miller roll."In 1904, the Eastern Band of
Cherokee won a settlement with the U.S. government based on
violations of earlier treaties. This meant that thousands of persons
of Eastern Cherokee ancestry were eligible for part of the
settlement, and many of these people applied to the U.S. Court of
Claims for a share (Jordan
1987-1990).
It is interesting to read these applications, since a significant
percentage of applicants were not Eastern Cherokee, but members of
other tribes. These persons would now be identified as Lumbee,
Alabama Creek, Meherrin, Haliwa, and Occaneechi (Saponi), along with
a number of individuals who probably were of unmixed white or black
ancestry."At least 20 Occaneechi
descendants also applied; all were rejected by the commission as not
being of Eastern Cherokee ancestry. Among these were Aaron Thomas
Guy, born in Caswell County, North Carolina, the son of Henry Guy and
grandson of Henry Guy. Henry Guy, Sr., was the brother of Richard
Guy, Buckner Guy, and others who moved to Macon County, North
Carolina, from the Texas community in the 1820s. Aaron Guy stated
that his mother was a free woman of color, born free and raised by
the Quakers in Guilford County, North Carolina. There is also
testimony from a former slave who knew Henry Guy, Jr., to the effect
that he was an Indian, married to a colored woman. Aaron Guy was
living in Indiana at the time of his application."William C. Wilson, from Wichita, Kansas, also applied. He stated
that he was born near Hendersonville, North Carolina, and was the son
of Sam Wilson, a "half Cherokee," and Julian Guy. Julian
Guy was the daughter of Richard Guy and Martha Whitmore, and Martha's
mother was Lottie Jeffries. Wilson claimed that his grandfather,
Richard Guy, was a white man, although the Macon County records list
him as a "Free Colored head of Household." He also stated
that his father, Sam Wilson, could speak the Indian language.
Assuming he was not exaggerating to impress the government man,
William Wilson's father may have spoken the old Saponi language, or
he may have learned Cherokee from his neighbors in Macon County.

"William and Joe Gibson, from
Murphy, North Carolina, applied, and the note "Probably Negros"
was written on their application. William Gibson stated that his
parents "passed as part Indian. No Negro blood in them." He
further stated that his father spoke the Indian language. On the
bottom of his testimony is a note, presumably written by the agent,
which says, "This applicant shows the Indian so does his brother
now with him. However, their ancestors were never enrolled."
These Gibsons, who lived at various times in Tennessee and North
Carolina, probably were also related to the Gibsons found in the
so-called Melungeon groups of eastern Tennessee and western Virginia,
which appear to have originated in the early mixed-blood populations
of the North Carolina Piedmont area." I am probably related to Joe and William Gibson that he mentions. (21)

The
“Western Catawba Indian Association” of the 1880s-1890s

The
most illusive of the Western Catawba to research are those that were called the
“Western Catawba Indian Assoication” (18). They are mentioned in a
Congressionaal document where it is stated the following is stated as in a statement made by and recorded in the 54th
Congress from the “Western Catawba Indian Association” that was
written to Congress (19).

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress Assembled

Your petitioners come representing that they are
the representatives of the individuals and their descendants who were
formerly the members of the Catawba Tribe of Indians that owned and
occupied lands in the states of North Carolina and South Carolina;
that in pursuance of the policy of the United States to remove all
the Indian Tribes to new homes to be provided for them west of the
Misissippi River, Congress passed an act July 29,1848, appropriating
$5,000 for the removal of the Catawba Indians, with their own
consent, to the west of the Mississippi River, and for settling and
subsisting them one year in new homes first to be obtained for them
(9 stat. L., 264); that nothing was accomplished under this act; that
the provisions and appropriations thereof were reenacted in the act
of July 31, 1854 (10 stat. L., 316); that some efforts were made to
secure for the Catawbas new homes among the Choctawand Chickasaw
Indians in the Indian Territory, and under the encourgement of
hopeful results, and of the laws of Congress on the subject, many of
the Catawba Indians left their lands and homes in the Carolinas and
journied at their own expense to the country west of the Mississippi
River, hoping and expecting to be there furnished with and loated
there and subsisted for one year upon new homes; that the Department
of the Interior has so far failed to accomplish anyhting towards
securing for the Catawbas such new homes or in doing anything in
their behalf as was contemplated and expected under the provisions of
the law referred to; that the Catawbas reached the states and
territories bordering on the then Indian Territory, where they
expected to be settled in new homes, but have been left stranded in
that territory and in the neighboring states, where they have had to
seek a livelyhood s best they could, without any land upon which they
could build homes for themselves and families; that they are in great
need, and are very anxious to be given lands, homes, or allotments of
any of the lands that now are or may hereafter become available for
that purpose in the Indian Territory or n Oklahoma Territory; that
they desire to be informed sa to the status of the tribal lands of
the Catawba Indians formerly occupied by the Catawba Tribe of Indians
in the Carolinas, and to secure anything that may be due them as
accruing them from said lands; and also to receive any other or
further relief, help, or benefits they may be found, upon careful
investigation of the facts in their case, be entitled to receive in
right, justice or equity, from the United States or otherwise in the
matter of new homes in the West or as to their lands in the East; and
they pray that all these as the facts may warrant, demand and
require.

Notice
the above document says that on July 29th,
1848, that Congress apporopriated $5,000 to help pray for the removal
of the Catawba Indians westward to Oklahoma, then known as Indian
territory. In the treaty of Nation's Ford (the document doesn't
appear to be dated) of 1840 was made with the State of South
Carolina. The state of South Carolina agreed to pay the Catawba
$5,000 if they'd just leave, pretty much. So on two occasions they
were told they'd receive money to migrate to Indian Territory. On
neither occasion did this occur. There was always a reason why they
didn't qualify for the money, or didn't qualify for any lands in
Indian Territory, and so forth. Below is a list of the places 257
individuals went west expecting land and so forth that never was
forthcoming.

CATAWBA
INDIANS

The present location and number of those Catawba
Indians who went West, expecting to be located on lands west of the
Mississippi River by the Department of the Interior are as follows,
as furnished by James Bain, president of the Catawba Indian
Association at Fort Smith, Arkansas:

I
have contacted just about everyone I know and asked about some of
these things, gathering a little information here, a little there. A
few years back I'd emailed Mr. Pony Hill. I mentioned many things,
one was my search for James Bain and George Williamson, whose names
appear all over documents pertaining to the “Western Catawba Indian
Association” that tried to form in the 1890s. He replied;

“I
was able to locate James Bain in the 1900 census for Fort Smith,
Sebastain Ward 4. he was listed as a 60 year old "white"
male born in Tennessee (both parents born in California...?). His
wife was listed as a 50 year old "white" female born in
Mississippi and a step-son of 24 y/o also born in Miss. Living next
door was Hugh Morrison (32 y/o 'white' male born in Ark) with his
wife Marie (27 y/o 'white' female whose father was born in
Tennessee).

“If
this is the correct James Bain, of the Western Catawba Assoc., then
it is a mystery as to why this lists his parents being born in
California. Perhaps he was represnting his wife in the tribe? Both
the Robinson and Morrison surnames were listed among the Catawba on
the reservation at around 1840, and Indian agent B.B. Massey
specifically documented in 1853 that the majority of the Morrison
family had moved off the reservation, with at least one family moved
near Charleston, SC "not heard from since." Massey also
wrote in 1853 that there were at east 15 Catawba living in Arkansas
"who had moved out there in 1851 never to return."

If
James was 60 in 1900, and he was born in 1840 in Tennessee, I can see
that. But then his parents were born in California somewhere between
1800 to 1820. In those days California was a part of Spain. To put
this date in perspective, Mexico won her independence from Spain on
April 24th,
1821. California became a Terriroty of the United States after the
Mexican-American War 1845-1847. A trip overland would have been
treacherous, and the Panama Canal had not been built. There's an
interesting story (has to be) here, but I don't know what it is. :)
Once you were West of the Mississippi, you see a lot of mixed-blood
mixed-race people saying they are White, and nobody caring enough to
make a big deal out of it. The Morrison name is interesting. Also I found a "Bunch" in the household of one "Bain" family in Arkansas and a "Minor" in the household of a second. I have no idea what any of this means, if anything.

Department of the Interrior, Office of Indian
Affairs, Washington, March 28, 1896

Sir;

I am in receipt of your letter of February 22nd,
transmitting in pamphlet form a “Petition and Memorial in the
matter of claims and demands of the Catawba Indian Association of
the United States.” publihsed at Fort Smith, Ark., giving the
proceedings of a conventions of Catawba Indians held in that city
April 15, 1895, called for the purpose of considering the condition,
status and welfare of all Catawba, and all non-Reservation Indians,
and to take action in procuring and allotment of land under the forth
section of the General Alotment Act of Feb. 8, 1887 (24 Stat. L., p.
388), as amended by the Act of Feb 28., 1891 (26 Stat. L., p. 795).

This memorial purports to come from the Catawba
Indians comprising, they allege, “All persons of Catawba Indian
descent, and ther descendants, including all persona who have
intermarried with Catawba Indians, and all persons of mixed Catawba
and White Blood and descent, residing in any of the states or
territories of the United States or in the Indian Territory;”
claiming further that theUnited States has never made any provisions
for them in giving them a grantor title to large tracts of the public
domain as it has done for the Cherokees, Creeks, and other tribes,
only giving them a small tract of land in South Carolina, although
belonging to the same groups of Indians as the Cherokee and Creeks;
the United States of America has made no provisions whatever to
occupy and use any part of the public domain belonging to the United
States, except the aforesaid small tract of land in South Carolina,
unless it be to take alotments under the aforesaid section 4 of the
Act of 1887, as ammended by the act of 1891, and and asking for such
Executive action or conrgessional legislation as may be necessary to
secure equal rights with other Indians to share in the public domain
belonging to the United States.

In your letter, transmitting this petition and
memorial, you state that you are requested to ascertain (one) whether
or not th Catawba have any tribal lands in the sattes of North or
South Carolina to which the tribal title has not been ceded or
extenguished; (two) whether there is any reason why these individual
Indians may not take up lands in severalty on the pblic domain as
provided in said section four of The Act of 1887.

You suggest that arraingements might be made
whereby they could take land in severalty within the Kiowa and
Comanche and Wichita Reservations, Oklahoma Territory, when the
unalotted lands of said reservation shall be opened to to public
settlement, or between the time of the ratification of their
agreements, and the issue of the presidents proclomation opening the
same to esttlement, or even befoe the ratification of said agreement,
etc.

In
reply I have to state that the Catawbe Indians are a division of
North American Indians, which included in the last century
twenty-eight confederated tribes. A few of these ewre in North
Carolina, but most of them were in South Carolina. The principle
tribe in the later state was the “Katawba.”

Newspaper
Articles on the Western Catawba

These
three short articles about the Catawba in Arkansas were written
between 1889- 1895, and are found in the local newspaper, "The
Fort Smith Elevator". Some people were trying to organize a
group of Catawba in the late 19th century. Also found, late in the
day, a few lines in an article in "The Indian Chieftain" of
Vinita, Oklahoma, dated 1888, when Vinita was a part of the Cherokee
Nation. Remember Oklahoma only became a state in 1907.

August
16, 1889, The Fort Smith Elevator, Catawba Indian Association The
Catawba Indian Association met at Rocky Ridge on the 10th. The
meeting wascalled
to order by the President. After the reading of the minutes and the
calling of the roll ofthe
officers, transacting other business that came before the order, a
call for new memberswas
made and 90 was added to the new list, after which the meeting
adjourned to meet atAult’s’
Mill, three miles south of Fort Smith, the second day of the fair,
the 16th day ofOctober,
where the delegates and all persons interested will please attend
without furthernotice,
as matters of interest will be considered.

J.
Bain, President

G.
W. Williamson, Secretary

I
obtained this material by writing to the University of Arkansas at
Fort Smith library. One of their librarians wrote the following:

Hello
Mr. Hawkins,

Attached
is a copy of the article you requested. The article mentioned anothermeeting
held on October 16th and I found it in the October 25th edition but
the film was sodark
I could not get a good print to scan. The text of the article
follows. Please let me know ifI
can be of further assistance.“October
25, 1889 p. 3 col. 5, From Fort Smith Historical Society publication.

“Attention
Catawba’s

The
Western Catawba’s Indian Association met at Ault’s Mill October
16, 1889, atwhich
meeting a number of new members were added to the Association, thus
making itnearly
4,000 strong. They appointed an executive committee which is
empowered to transactall
business and place the matter before congress. The Association
adjourned to conveneagain
at a called meeting of the president.”Taken
originally from “The Fort Smith Elevator” (newspaper), date
probably earlyJan
1895.

All
Catawba Indians by blood or otherwise are requested to meet at the
County CourtHouse
in Fort Smith Arkansas on Thursday, Jan 24th, 1895 at 10 o’clock a.
m. for thepurpose
of perfecting the census roll of the Western Catawba Indian
Association and thetransaction
of other matters that may come before the meeting. All Catawba
Indians areexpected
to be present or by proxy as business of importance will come before
the meeting.

James
Bain, Preset.,Geo.
E. Williams, Scary,

Western
Catawba Indian Association

Please
keep the timeframe in mind. The Dawes Act (also called the Allotment
Act) had just been passed in Congress meaning the Indians in Oklahoma
at least would no longer own all their lands in common – each
Indian family was to receive – I think it was 160 acres – I might
be wrong about the number of acres. Well many more people were asking
for this land than there actually were Indians living on the lands in
Oklahoma. So the Indians and whites both grew suspicious some of the
applicants.

We
hear of all those on the rejected rolls. But we never hear of those
who claimed Catawba ancestry — all we hear of are of the Cherokee
rejected rolls. Apparently 4,000 people wanted to claim Catawba
ancestry. The final list seems to have had only 257 names, so
something happened to the rest, and we have no list of the names of
those 257 persons, nor of the 4,000. I will continue to look for
these lists.

Also,
these 4,000 are not on any accepted or rejected roll, either, as no
roll was made for the Catawba. I am hoping to discover the names of
those 257 as well as those 4,000. General opinion at the time was
they were individuals who had a little Indian blood and had been
living as whites. The idea of giving free land to people who had not
gone through the hardships of removal, people who had left them to
live as Whites, was a bitter and difficult pill to swallow, for the
traditional Indians who had never left the various tribes, and who
still had many full bloods. Also it was suspected that many people
applying were simply full blood Whites looking to take Indian lands
as had happened so many times in the past. This attitude doomed the
petitioners such as these claiming a Catawba heritage, to failure.
But what became of them? They seem to have vanished in the dust. Was
my family a part of this movement in the late 19th century?

I
found one more reference; from "The Indian Chieftain", a
newspaper from Vinita, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory dated 1888,
located in what is today north eastern Oklahoma. Indian Chieftain,
March 1, 1888, Vinita, Indian Territory (Oklahoma), image 2 of 4 The
Western Catawba Indian Association, with headquarters in Fort Smith,
proposesto
petition congress to set aside for the use of all persons of Indian
blood, not members ofany
tribe, a portion of the Indian Territory.

I
cannot help but remember hearing that dad's grandparents were at one
time thinking about signing up for the Dawes Allotments, but
"something happened" and they never did. I remember my
mother mentioning this, and she had no Indian blood, but her family
lived next to my great-grandparents on my Dad’s side – the
Richey’s, as well. I wish I knew the right questions to ask back
when I was younger, but at the time, I had little interest in these
things. Part of my quest in doing research was to find out exactly
what happened. Why did they back out, and never even apply for Dawes?
This would have been the 1890s. They did live near Fort Smith at one
time and we do seem to have some ancestors that "could have
been" Catawba. They also lived in the Chickasaw Nation and the
Catawba had asked the Chickasaw to accept them, an offer the
Chickasaw refused. One post even said some Catawba wre said to have moved into the Catawba Nation. Did we belong to this organization, the Western
Catawba Indian Association — at one time 4,000 strong? That would
explain a lot. The Melungeons too, were Eastern Siouan — and they were also closely attached together both genetically and
linguistically. The Cheraw and Saponi, were both always considered the same people.

Catawba
in Colorado and Utah
(2 CSD #144)

Department
of the Inerior, Office of Indian Affairs, Washington, January 16th,
1896

Sir,

I am in receipt of your letter of January 9, 1896,
enclosing one from P. H. Head, a Catawba Indian, of Sanford,
Colorado, submitting a petition perporting to have been signed by
himself and 25 others, embracing six families, who claim to have once
resided in South Carolina but are no longer “recognized” by said
state, and asking to be united with the Ute Indians now living in the
Uintah Reservation, and to be recognised by the Government as members
of said Ute Tribe receiving and enjoying in common with them all
rights and priveleges at the protection of the government. Mr. Head,
in his letter, entimates that this petition will be followed by one
signed by the Ute Indians in Utah.

You asked that the matter might receive my
attention, and advise given as to what steps are necessary to have
this change made.

In reply, I have to say that it is the policy of
the government to abolish the tribal relatonship of the Indians as
fast as possible, and to settle each Indian upon a separate tract of
land that he can cal

The General Allotment Act of 1887 wisely provided
for Indains who were not living upon any reservation at the date of
passage of said act, or for whose tribe no longer no reservation had
been created, by allowing them to apply for and secure to themslves
lands upon the public domain.

To answer your question directly as to what steps
would be necessary to have these people united to the Indian Tribe
occupying the Uintah Reservation in Utah, I should say that where
there are no specific Treaty stipulations with any given tribe
touching such matters, as to the case with these Ute Indians, the
usual course persued is to obtain he concent of the tribe to which an
Indian desires adoption and then to have such adoption approved by
this office and the Secretary of the Interior; any such consent must
be procurd under the eye of he agent and should bear his certificate
to the effect that the action of the Indians in adopting such Indian
represented the wishes of the tribe and was taken in open council.
This briefly would be the proper course to persue in order to obtain
adoption into an Indian Tribe

The petition, with Mr. Head's letter, is herewith,
respectfully returned.

Very respectfully,

D. M. Browning, Commissioner

Hon. H. M. Teller, United States Senate

The
Last Attempt of the People to Continue to Exist as a Nation

The last communication on the subject was a letter
dated Jan 9th, 1896, from Senator H. M. Teller, including
one from P. H. Head (who had been furnished a copy of office letter
to Senator Teller dated Feb.13, 1890, giving the status given the
status of their lands in South Carolina as above set forth), a
Catawba Indian, of Sanford, Colo., submitting a petition perporting
to have been signed by himself and 25 others, embracing six families,
Catawba Indians, who claim to have once resided in South Carolina,
but who are no longer recognized by said state, and ask to be united
with the Indians now living on the Uintah Reservation in Utah, and to
be recognized by the government as members of the Ute Tribe,
receiving and enjoying in common with them all the rights and
priveleges of Utes and the protection of the government. In said
letter Mr. Head intimaated that this petition would be followed by
another signed by the said Ute Indians, which however, has not yet
been received in this office.

Senator Teller, in submitting said petition,
requested that it receive due attention and that he be advised as to
what steps were necessary to have such change effected.

He was informed on the 16th of January,
1896, on the return of said petition, that it was now the policy of
th government to abolish the tribal relations of the Indians as fast
as possible, and to settle each Indian upon a separate tract of land
that he can call his own to the end that we may become
self-supporting and independent of government bounty. It would not be
in keeping with that policy to gather up people who happen to have
more or less people who happen to have Indian blood in their veins
and were living among the White separate and apart from Indian
communities and incorporate them into a tribe and place them upon an
Indian Reservation.. A copy of the General Allotment Act of 1887, and
the Amendatory Act of 1891, with a copy of the rules and regulations
indicating the manner of procedure to obtain an allotment of lands
upon the public domain under the fourth section of said act were sent
to said petitioners for the information as the said section wisely
provided for Indians who wre not living upon any reservation at the
date of the passage of asid act, or for whose tribe no reservation of
land had been created by allowing them to apply for and to ecure to
themselves land upon the public domain whether surveyed or
unservayed.

With respect to incorporation into the Ute Tribe of
Indians occupying the Uintah Reservation, Senator Teller was advised
that where there are no specific treaty stipulations given with any
given tribe touching such matters, as is the case with the Ute
Indians, the usual course to pursue is to obain the concent of the
tribe into which an Indian desires adoption, and then have such
adoption approved bythis office and the Secretary of the Interrior.
Any such concent must be procured under they eye of the agent and
should bear his certificate to the effect that the action of the
Indians in adopting such Indian represented the wishes of the tribe
and was taken in open council. This, briefly, would be the proper
course to pursue in order to obtain adoption into an Indian tribe.

Having furnished tis full and complete history of
the Catawbas, as far as the same is disclosed is disclosed from the
files and records of this office and other sources, you will see just
what lands these Indians held and now hold in South Carolina. I know
of no land that they own in their tribal capacity as Catawba's in
North Carolina. I know of no reason why these individual Indians may
not take up lands in severalty under the fourth section of the act of
1887 aforesaid. I do not think it would practicable or wise to ask
the President to withhold from public settlement the lands ceded by
the Kiowa and Comanche Indians by their last agreement, when that
agreement is ratified by Congress, nntil such Indians had first taken
allotments thereon. They should conform to the act of 1887, as all
the other Indians in like condition have to do.

Your attention is particularly invited to the views
of this office in office letter of January 16th, 1896,
herein referred to with respect to the policy that should be adopted
respecting the Catawba Indians.

This memorial is herewith returned.

Very respectfully,

D. M. Browning

Commissioners

R. V. Belt, Esq.

1314 Tenth Street NW, City

For many, this was the end. There was no more effort.
Our ancestors had tried so hard, been denied a right to exist as a
tribal organization for at least 50 years now. They gave up and just assimilated. However
there were groups in the Carolina's and Virginia, and they had more luck. Most of them gained state
recognition, at least. I was lucky, and gained state recognition as “Cherokee”
as we have Cherokee heritage as well. But there are tens of thousands
of others still left in limbo. But without a tribal structure to keep
us together we get Whiter every generation, and in some cases
Blacker. But do not forget for a moment who you are also are –
American Indian! I've made every mistake in the book, seeking my
rightful heritage, but on rare occasion I got it right. Maybe people
will read this and realize their Melungeon heritage is NOT
Portuguese, it is NOT Angolan or Turkish or Jewish – but rather Saponi, or
Catawba, or Cheraw. Be proud of that.Recognition if you can get it, For many however, it likely won't happen. I've never been accused of being optimistic. :)sources

(1) taken from Chapter II; Indian Days and Early Settlers; Immigration to Arkansas of the “Lungens,” From "The History of Baxter County, Arkansas" by Mary Ann Messick(2) "Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas", p 339-342 by Josiah H. Shinn.(3) History of Methodism in Arkansas" p 29-36(4) Minutes of Stony Creek Primitive Baptist Church mentioned in "Melungeons and Other Poineer Families" by Jack Gions (c) 2000(5) Early Lawrence County, Arkansas Records

(12) IPP papers: https://digital.libraries.ou.edu/cdm/ref/collection/indianpp/id/5147.(13) "The Catawba Indians, The People of the River"; by Douglas Summers Brown, University of South Carolina Press, (c) 1966.(14) “Catawba Nation, Treasures in History,” by Thomas J. Blumer, (pp 52-53), Published by the History Press, Columbia North Carolina, (c) 2007 Thomas Blumer.(15) "Red Carolinians", by Chapman Milling; University of South Carolina Press 1969, (c) Chapman Milling. First Published University of North Carolina Press, 1940.(16) "A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma" by Muriel H. Wright, my edition published by the Civilizarion of the American Indian Series, University of Oklahoma Press, copyright 1951, 1986(17) Western Catawba Indian Assicoation was mentioned in several newspaper articles of the time. There were articles in the Fort Smith Elevatior dated August 16, 1889, October 16th, 1889, before January 24th, 1895, All these accounts are from the Fort Smith Elevator Newspaper. there is a ofurth account In the Indian Chieftain out of Vinita, Indian Territory (Cherkee Nation), dated March 1st, 1888.

(18) Senate Congressional Document # 144; 54th Congress(19) Author of several books about some Catawba/Cheraw Indians who moved to North Florida, including "The Indians of North Florida," by Pony Hill and Christopher Scott Sewell, Printed by Backintime, a subsidiary of Boxes and Arrows, (c) 2011.(20) "History of the Old Cheraws" by Alexander Gregg

About Me

Howdy. I am a 60 year old male (as of late December, 2012). I am using this particular photo for two reasons. i.] I am wearing my t-shirt that I bought at Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City -- I am vrey proud to be an Oklahoman. And ii.] I had just run 2 miles at the gym on a treadmill when that photo was taken. I am also proud to still be able to run a little at 60 years of age. My body is changing though, and I don't know if I'll still be able to run at 61. If it is possible, I will do it. Wish me luck.

I am mostly Caucasian, with a little American Indian and sub-Sahara African DNA mixed in (per DNA testing), Caucasian blood is English, German, and Scots-Irish, probably in equal amounts. American Indian blood seems to be Cherokee and/or Catawba. So many people claim some Cherokee heritage that I hesitate to mention it. Before going further I need to say we are NOT federally enrolled and we don't belong to any of the state recognized groups either. African blood will be researched later. I fear it will be nearly impossible to learn much about, but one day, I'll try. Finding African blood was an unexpected result of searching my Indian blood. Genealogy research is my passion.

My passion has also always been research of any kind, Noone ever hired me to do any, so I made my own research projects,with my genealogy project a prime example. I am proud of our research and have written a book "Finding Our Indian Blood" which will be published shortly by Bluewater Publishing.

I have a Bachelors degree in Mathematics (57 hours) with a Physics Minor (31 hours). I used to search for days on end to be hired to use that degree, but noone cared about it. I was overqualified or underqualified for every job there was. Eventually I gave up and quit telling people about it so I could get hired to do anything.

The bulk of my blogging will be about i.] genalogy research methods; ii.] my family genealogy; iii.] little known Cherokee communities and research; iv.] little known Catawba communities and research; v.] Eventually I will go into African-American genealogy research, especially as it pertains to the mixed race Indian peoples known as "Melungeon". I will fight with my last breath those idiotic notions that the Melungeons are Gypsies or Portuguese. vi.] I love Oklahoma to death. I will write about Oklahoma history as well.

vii.] Years back I had an interest in Bible prophecy. I have always thought you had to be humble to understand it. Thus those who said "God told them" how to interpret things were boasting, therefore they were not humble, therefore you couldn't believe they had any connection at all with God. I suspect God talks only with the meek and the poor, and I might be wrong about that, too. I suspect you'll have to torture me by pulling my teeth without any pain killer to get me to say much about this -- and I wear dentures so good luck with that.

Also, I have an interest in Astronomy, in UFOs, anyhting where I can use my curiosity to consider research of the unknown. I suspect I might not post about these things, either.

I also love dogs, chess, horses, and I suppose goats, too. In fact I must admit I like goats better than I like sheep. It's beyond me why the writers of the Bible preferred sheep, and why they demonized the poor resourceful goat. Well, they also said "for without are dogs" -- shame on them!

If there are no dogs in Heaven, well I am not sure I wanna go there. I recall an episode of "The Twilight Zone" where an elderly man and his dog both died. When they both walked up to the Pearly Gates the man was told his dog wasn't allowed. He said if his dog wasn't allowed, he didn't want to go there, either. Well, it turned out that was the gates of Hell, not Heaven. He eventually reached those Pearly Gates where his buddy was allowed. That's probably the most important lesson about anything that I have ever learned, or am ever likely to learn. And what was that lesson? Dogs are our guardian angels, of course! Well, that's a part of it, anyhow.

Another thing I have learned, I must travel about 20 blind allies to find a nugget of genealogical gold. The vast majority of my research finds nothing at all -- at least not about my family. But it does discover bits and pieces about the big picture, and as such might benefit others more than me. But I too benefit by gaining a little knowledge -- and oh, I do crave knowledge like an addict.

So this blog will cover a little bit about a lot of things, but as time passes that little bit will turn into a mountain, if I live long enough.

For the present though, the blog will cover things related to "my book, "Finding Our Indian Blood", a bit of research of which I am quite proud. It has taken at least 20 years and a thousand hours, and maybe 100 of those hours found something about my family. But the rest was useful also -- the book is only the tip of the iceberg.

I dedicate this blog and book to the thousands of sand grains on the river bottom that can be shown to have, once upon a time, millions of years back, been a part of a larger rock or boulder. And to that rock or boulder that can be proven to have been, millions of years even further back, at the top of the mountain. In short, it is dedicated to making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Oh, and dedicated to discovery, to research of all kinds, colors, shapes and sizes.